Running Bear’s August 2019 Coffee Shop


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New York - "forget about it!" :) Too many loud mouthed blowhards for me. It's easier to excel where others have not when you have more money than you know what to do with. I'd like to see how they handle a real world budget. If DC is any indication it would just be huge deficit spending.

No, the difference is that we (New Yorkers and the rest of the Tri-State Area), pay significantly higher taxes and fees to pay for all the "priveleges', while folks in the rest of the country insist on receiving these things for free.

My wireless phone bill has gone up in each of the last several months. Close examination shows that the increase(s), were due to (1) increased 911 fees and (2), to subsidize wireless phone systems in rural areas. I'm tired of subsidizing the rest of the country, but "hey! it's New Yawk".

Boris
 
I'm tired of subsidizing the rest of the country, but "hey! it's New Yawk".

The reason New York "subsidizes" the rest of the country (there are a bunch of states that pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal benefits), is that the average income is higher in New York than in much of the country, and with a progressive tax system, a higher share of a higher income is paid in taxes, which leads to a greater share of taxes going out.

New York state taxes (income, property, sales, etc) are not used to "subsidize" the rest of the country, but to pay for the priorities that New York feels are important. New York, per this article: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494/ has the highest tax burden on the state level of any state in the US.
 
Good Morning All. 77° and still dark. That elusive 100° still hasn't been reached to the dismay of the weather forecasters who have predicted it for the last four days! Didn't get much done yesterday due to a long and pleasant visit from my granddaughter and her family. SIL did give me an extra set of hands for a couple of tasks that have been waiting. School starts here this week as well, the day varies depending on the rural district's whims.
Just a doughnut and OJ this morning Flo, we're having a brunch at home after Mass with a couple we know.

Thanks for the comments and likes regarding the layout progress pictures yesterday; Chad, Sherrel, Ken, Jerome, Justin, Chet, Garry, Phil, Louis.

I made it to the train shed for a short time yesterday, Added a bit of ground foam around the diner, added some small details to the gas station. I did some painting on the gas pumps but failed to get any photos, they're not done yet anyway.
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I mainly ran a few trains; the last one stopping on the passing siding, for lunch at the diner .
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Mike -
Louis-Then again, Johnsonville isn’t a real brat.
Respectfully disagree. While Johnsonville comes no where near the quality of the German meat markets nearby, they do make many good products.
Joe - We in the rural areas got hit with the subsidization increase as well. If you ever have an emergency along a rural highway, you'll be thankful. Phone carriers wouldn't put towers in otherwise because there aren't enough paying customers. Until recently there were large swathes of my county, located only 50 miles from Dallas/Ft Worth, that did not have coverage. Still some small pockets where you have to use the land line to call 911.

My "spider-stick" has been getting an overtime workout here lately. That's a 30" piece of 1" x 2" that you wave up and down in front of you when you first walk through the yard/driveway/anywhere, first thing every morning. These tenacious webs reappear overnight every night and they are really hard to remove as well as being a royal PITA.
Today is National Presidential Joke Day. Haven't most of them been jokes? At least in my lifetime!
Everybody have a great Sunday
 

I wish we had gas that cheap. I remember as a grade school kid the bus driver complaining about 65 cents a gallon (he was the owner of a small bus company that ran about 8-10 busses in a neighboring district and 2 in ours). I also remember when gas prices dove down into this same range shown above in about 1998. That was heaven in terms of gas budget...

Of course, today's price range in the US (per Google average is $2.50 -- some places a lot more and some less), factoring in inflation, is probably not that much more than those 1998 prices.

At least we don't pay the rates in Japan or even worse in Europe. I've been seeing around 136 yen for a liter, which is about $4.90 -- $5 gallon in Japan. A quick Google search shows about $6 / gallon in Germany now, $5.90 in the UK, and $4.92 -- $6 in France.

It is now Sunday night in Japan, and at 10PM about 84F and humid in Kobe. As we walked home from church services around 1:30PM closer to Osaka, the Hankyu train station said it was 37C, which is about 98-99F. And probably 80-85% or more. One thing I'll be glad for getting back to Utah is the dry heat (vs humid heat -- would rather have dry moderate temps :) )

Off to Tokyo in the morning on our last bullet train / Shinkansen ride of the trip. Supposed to be cloudy and rainy my wife said, due to Typhoon Krosa, which is some 900-1000 miles south of Japan at the moment and moving NW slowly.

Some shots for today.

The first, the cream and blue, was running on the Hankyu line and was sitting at the Sannomiya station in Kobe. It was out of service and left before our train came in on the same track. It is not a normal Hankyu train but probably belongs to a Hankyu subsidiary railroad (of which there are many). I thought it might be a Hanshin but could not find any pics online of Hanshin with those colors or scheme (I have a Hanshin model that looks like that but in Orange and Cream). (Hanshin merged with Hankyu in the 200x). The destination sign says "Hankyu Kobesannomiya". I have faint memory of having seen ones like this somewhere in Wikipedia or somewhere online.

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The two maroon colored are Hankyu we rode today, and the side of a wagon was a third, and the green Kobe Subway rounded out our journey. I missed some shots of some trains we took (we took 4 Hankyu -- two express and two locals we transferred to/from to get to the station we needed to get to).

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On one of the trains today, I think the local we took after services to the next bigger station to get the express back to Kobe, we sat in the second of two trains that were coupled together, and sat at the front right behind the driver cubby. Since this was a trailer and not the driving train, the driving cubby was empty. Interesting to look at though.

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Lastly, I got a close up of the bird nest on the clock in the subway station. The poop drops down right in front of the self service ticketing machines (into and on a box the station personnel put).

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Good morning, 58°, and sunny.


Louis: Rand Paul still does. Mitch McConnell still wants a cut to offset each expenditure. But most politicians have found that Austerity doesn't work. Sequester, and Government Shut down, the last two attempts at forcing a balanced budget neither cut spending nor balancing the budget.

Each side has their special interests to pander to, and we still have to defend ourselves from potential enemys around the world. No one can agree which expenditure to cut, and Economists have a new theory, which implies deficit spending isn't as harmful as the "Return to the Gold Standard" crowd, would imply.

Boris

Boris..... I have have the following to say about that.

Instead of listening to politicians and the stupid media, I prefer doing my own research. Looking up the numbers, I can tell you where Uncle Sam's spending is growing fastest. It is Health & Human Services. HHS doubles its annual spending every 10 years (annual growth is 6% to 7%) . Currently, HHS will spend over $1.2 trillion this year. It is impossible to grow revenues fast enough to pay for it because the economy grows less than 3% annually instead of 6-7%. Add up all the years of spending by HHS since it was created, and you explain all of the over $20 trillion debt.

Most of HHS is Medicare. People pay taxes for Medicare, and they are entitled to receive its benefits during their senior years. However, the tax receipts going into Medicare are only a small percentage of what is needed. The trust fund for Medicare is being depleted. I can not tell you how benefits will be paid after funds run out. The numbers are saying Medicare must be reformed to slow its growth. However, any politician who suggests dealing with the problem is sharply criticized for doing so by an ignorant, ill-informed public. AARP is not serving its members as it refuses to acknowledge what the numbers are saying about Medicare.

Personally, Medicare benefits are working well for me. They pay doctors who have saved my life. (I have heart failure.) I would like to continue receiving the benefits indefinitely. ... In spite of that, I believe Medicare must be reformed to slow its growth. Thanks for reading this.

Everybody .... We are leaving very soon for church and then a trip to Nashville. We will visit with my wife's Mom and other family.

Have a nice Sunday.
 
Good morning. It's sunny and 75.
It appears Murphy isn't quite done with me yet. This morning, I went downstairs to grab the rechargeable battery and put it in the weed eater, to trim around the house before mowing the lawn. The charger was flashing an error message for a defective battery. I guess I shouldn't complain, I've been using the original battery since 2010. I looked at the web site for the place I bought the original, and they're $74.99 each there. A quick trip over to that huge online retailer found them for $47.99 for a pair. I guess you know where I got the replacements. They should be here Tuesday.

On a train-related note: I picked up a PCM SD7 through the evail auction site last week for $35. I got it knowing the original decoder was toast, and had been removed. I was a little disappointed when I opened it up, and found the decoder had been removed by cutting off all the wires, rather than simply unplugging them. I rummaged through my parts box, and found a circuit board from a Walthers engine, and grafted the wires to that, then plugged in a motor decoder with a 9 pin jst connector. I discovered the engine does run as advertised, and all I'll need to do is sometime in the future, pick up a sound decoder for it. In the meantime, it's "silent, but deadly".
 
GOOD LATE MORNING where it is 75*, looking for 87* for a high.
The record for this date is 107* in 2000.
Have not seen a cloud in like - forever!
 
Willie - I can tell by your gas prices that your modeling era is ~10 years later than mine. This is what I remember typically paying for a gallon of gas during 1971-72 when I first got my drivers license:

GasStationUnion76.jpg


...
Ken: The good news is that you have recovered sufficiently to be focused on other matters, in particular Model Railroad electronics.
...
True enough, Boris! I know the WiFi/cellphone throttle project will get worked out at some point. Now I'm just battling cabin fever, I really want to get back to the office and into the routine I had before the cancer surgery. [But no exercise yet - gotta wait another 6 weeks before doing that!]

I did have a teensy setback on the recovery front this morning, though. On Saturday I avoided taking any ibuprofen or other pain meds, and the discomfort level was low enough that I figured I could handle it. Well, this morning I started having shooting pains in the area around the surgically-wounded tissue; so I guess I'm not quite ready to go completely drug-free. I'll just knock the dosage down to 400mg twice a day.
 
Chad - I have pretty well given up flying commercial if at all possible. That return trip from Hawaii was the clincher for me. I do have a private pilots license and access to an aircraft for shorter trips otherwise I will drive if at all possible, even cross country.

Mike - I have always enjoyed sausage, in fact we had some this evening. When I was in the Navy, I attended three different electronic schools in Great Lakes, IL, and really enjoyed the fairs that were held in the Milwaukee area. Sausage heaven. The guy who had the local butcher shop was from Germany and really knew his sausage and always had a wide selection available in his shop. Sure hated to see him retire.
Yes, Chet. The greater Milwaukee area is a haven for brats n brews. Once you start moving north & west out into the more rural parts of the Badger State, you start finding soooo many creameries with a myriad of various types & flavors of cheese & sausage. I’m fortunate to have about a 1/2 dozen cheese factories within a 30 minute drive of Marshfield.
 
Starting em young today. Took the little man down to the train room. Thank goodness I can run trains one handed. To which of course he was interested in the controller I had in my hands. It made for an interesting session. Especially when I had to put together the train before I ran it. Put my reliable GP35 to work. Once my train was built and out running laps boy do my son start cooing up a storm! He didn't know what to think. I grabbed up my lawn chair and there we were railfanning away. So pretty decent session all things considered. Didn't have too many issues running my train. For the most part once it was turning laps it was flawless. So with a little bit of luck I can grow my son into a model railroader in time.
 
Good morning, 58°, and sunny.


Louis: Rand Paul still does. Mitch McConnell still wants a cut to offset each expenditure. But most politicians have found that Austerity doesn't work. Sequester, and Government Shut down, the last two attempts at forcing a balanced budget neither cut spending nor balancing the budget.

Each side has their special interests to pander to, and we still have to defend ourselves from potential enemys around the world. No one can agree which expenditure to cut, and Economists have a new theory, which implies deficit spending isn't as harmful as the "Return to the Gold Standard" crowd, would imply.

Boris

Boris, I know it's hard to cut spending, congress can't agree on almost anything, even when one party is the majority. I have to wonder about a bunch that throws up their hands when they have a 20 trillion dollar debt and say "lets cut our revenue and give the rich a huge tax cut". Now Moscow Mitch wants to cut spending from the poor. Who elects that clown?
 
No, the difference is that we (New Yorkers and the rest of the Tri-State Area), pay significantly higher taxes and fees to pay for all the "priveleges', while folks in the rest of the country insist on receiving these things for free.

My wireless phone bill has gone up in each of the last several months. Close examination shows that the increase(s), were due to (1) increased 911 fees and (2), to subsidize wireless phone systems in rural areas. I'm tired of subsidizing the rest of the country, but "hey! it's New Yawk".

Boris

According to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_income the state of NY is 15th in median household income. According to Wallet Hub (the link Chadbag posted) NY has the highest tax burden. Sounds like NY is getting the short end of the stick!

My state, Maryland is doing better. MD has the highest median household income by state and is only 13th in Tax Burden. I'd bet Baltimore City residents would rank higher in tax burden. Property tax in Baltimore is double or higher than other parts of MD. At least now, thanks to Mayor Blake they pick up the trash on time and keep the streets clear of snow and ice in Baltimore. It's amazing what GPS in city trucks has done!

DC has the highest median household income, but they are not a state nor do some of them live in the real world.

New Jersey is second among the states in median household income and 7th in tax burden. That is still better than NY.

In my original post on this subject I was mostly referring to the damn Yankees, their revenue is far higher than most MLB teams.
 
The reason New York "subsidizes" the rest of the country (there are a bunch of states that pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal benefits), is that the average income is higher in New York than in much of the country, and with a progressive tax system, a higher share of a higher income is paid in taxes, which leads to a greater share of taxes going out.

New York state taxes (income, property, sales, etc) are not used to "subsidize" the rest of the country, but to pay for the priorities that New York feels are important. New York, per this article: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494/ has the highest tax burden on the state level of any state in the US.

Thanks, that was interesting to see.
 
Health and Human Services (HHS) - sounds like a good way to spend money to me.

For the record I never got a dime from the government and I still think HHS is a good place to spend my tax money!

Oh wait, I did collect unemployment for 1 week in 1981 when the baseball players went on strike. Unemployment was high than, but I did find another job after 1 week. I took a job with a landscaper, cutting weeds for what was then Bell Atlantic. I didn't make much, but I made more than unemployment, I got a good workout and a tan. My face, arms and legs of my lily white, mostly Irish body are still darker than the rest of me. Now I know why those Spanish guys wear hats and long sleeves when working outside, smart people.

In addition; numbers, statistics and even the real news can be and are routinely manipulated, twisted and at times just plain lied about. Bottom line for me, spending money to improve the lives of people is a good idea. How we do that equitably, I'm not sure, that's what experts are for. I'd start by hiring lots of investigators to be sure the right people are receiving the benefits. No human being should be left to the wind, no matter how much it costs. Raise my taxes if necessary, I'll complain, but at least nobody would be left to the wind.

One thing I learned from being in business for myself. What ever the rules (taxes, fees, regulations or whatever) I'll learn to play the game and still make my profit. Business people can be like kids, they whine, cry, complain even throw tantrums all to see what they can get away with. Bottom line, it's our greed that motivates us. Most are not going to quit trying to make profit because of what ever rules we have to play by. Any businessman that closes up shop due to the rules, was never a good businessman to begin with, good riddance, more customers for the rest!
 
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